Metallica

Formed in 1981 in Los Angeles, California, Metallica is a heavy metal band that was started by James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich. The band is composed of Lars Ulrich on drums, Robert Trujillo on bass, Cliff Burton on guitars, Kirk Hammett on lead guitars, and James Hetfield on vocals. The band has a total of ten studio albums, five extended plays, one cover album, four live album, 37 singles, and 39 music videos. They have won nine Grammy awards and was even named as one of the most commercially successful bands of all time. They have sold over 125 million copies of their albums worldwide and 66 million of it was sold in the United States alone.

Albums and Hit Songs

Being one of the world’s most popular heavy metal band, Metallica has released a handful of studio albums and was able to produce numerous hit singles such as:

Albums

Kill ‘Em All (1983)

Ride the Lightning (1984)

Master of Puppets (1986)

…And Justice for All (1988)

Metallica (1991)

Load (1996)

Reload (1997)

St. Anger (2003)

Death Magnetic (2008)

Hardwired… to Self-Destruct (2016)

Hit Singles

Nothing Else Matters

The Unforgiven

Fade to Black

One

For Whom The Bell Tolls

Seek and Destroy

Whiskey in the Jar

Creeping Death

Sad But True

Wherever I May Roam

Blackened

Turn The Page

Master of Puppets

Hero of the Day

Until It Sleeps

History and Career

Metallica was founded in Los Angeles, California when Lars Ulrich placed an advertisement on the paper saying that he is a drummer looking for other heavy metal rockers to make music with. Ulrich accepted James Hetfield’s application to be part of the band and he was assigned to do the vocals and play the rhythm guitar.

The band got its name from their friend Ron Quintana. He suggested two names for the band which were MetalMania and Metallica. The band opted for MetalMania, however, when they joined the Metal Massacre I event, they were incorrectly listed as Metallica. At first, the band was furious about the mishap but the song they played at Massacre I started to spread in popularity by word of mouth, that’s why they decided to just stick with the name, Metallica.

Metallica is one of the most influential heavy rock metal bands in the 80’s and 90’s. They have inspired different generations of rock music enthusiasts with their hard rock sound. This band is responsible for resurrecting the heavy metal genre back to life. They did not only sounded like a heavy metal band, but they also looked and talked like heavy metal rock band members too.

Metallica marked the beginning of the underground thrash and heavy metal genre when they released their first album, Kill ‘Em All in 1983. The band proved that they are heavy metal rock Gods by improving their music and writing quality on each of their songs in every album they released. Their vocalist, James Hetfield has created a signature rhythm to match his every growl. And the style of their guitarist Kirk Hammett, is one of the most copied guitar playing style in the heavy metal music scene.

After Metallica released their third album, Master of Puppets in 1986, the band had encountered an accident when their tour bus crashed while they were on their way to Sweden. Their bassist Cliff Burton died in the accident. The band decided to continue with their career and Jason Newsted took the place of Burton in playing the bass. Two years after, they released their ambitious album, …And Justice for All, which surprisingly hit the top ten of the charts despite little promotion and zero radio airplay.

Metallica successfully penetrated the mainstream music scene with their 1991 self-titled album. It held the hit songs like “Enter Sandman” and “Whenever I May Roam”. This became a number one hit album and sold over seven million copies in the United States alone. Metallica followed this album’s success with a tour that lasted for almost two years.

Being the respected leaders of the heavy metal genre, Metallica has set the rules for all heavy metal bands. They don’t only have the rockers and headbangers fans, they also have mainstream fans that buy their album and wait for the new albums that they will release.

In 1996, they released their long-awaited album, Load, and surprised everyone with their new hairstyles. The album quickly entered and climbed the top spot of the charts and sold over three million copies in just the span of two months. The band followed this up with the album, Re-Load, in 1997. It contained new songs as well as some songs that have been left off in the previous album. although it did not become as successful as Load was, Re-load held the hit singles like “The Memory Remains” and “Fuel”.

In 1999, the band released a two-disc album with the title “S&M”. this album included a documented live concert of Metallica’s together with the San Francisco Symphony. The album entered the charts in the number two spot which helped regained the band’s popularity.

After Metallica appeared at the ESPN Awards in April of 2001, the band’s bassist, Jason Newsted announced that he was quitting the band. In the summer of 2001, the band’s recording of their album was put on hold when vocalist James Hetfield was admitted in a rehab facility because of alcoholism and other addictions. After Hetfield finished his treatment, he went back with the band and recorded their album St. Anger which was released in 2003.

In 2008, Metallica released their album Death Magnetic which spent three weeks in the number one spot of the Billboard charts. The band followed this up with a tour to promote the album which included a festival that also featured Megadeth, Anthrax, and Slayer. Over the years the band released the deluxe editions of their previous albums, Kill ‘Em All and Ride the Lightning. And on 2016, they released their tenth studio album with the title, Hardwired… To Self-Destruct. The album debuted at the number one spot worldwide on the day of its release.